Anthem of the Angels
by 0rycbar0
Summary: Sing the Anthem of the Angels...and say your last goodbye.


It's late at night. You're returning to your car in the parking garage, listening to the gentle breeze of the wind outside. The only source of light came from the moon and the array of dim light bulbs that hung from the ceiling, the massive columns in the garage casting even larger shadows across the ground and the dark corners. You take your time walking to your car, every footstep echoing through the concrete cavern. The garage was practically empty, everyone else driving home long before you. You quietly wish that there were other people around; the empty garage was giving you the creeps.

You were always creeped out about being alone in a parking garage late at night but it seemed worse than usual this time. Something seemed odd. You walk past the toll both, thinking that maybe the sight of the guard inside will be enough to calm your nerves. But, there was no one at the desk. The only thing there was a statue. It was a regular garden statue of an angel, hunched over and covering its eyes, weeping into its hands. It seemed like a new statue, its surface smooth and polished. Still, it seemed odd that someone had put a statue inside the toll booth. Maybe it was someone's idea of a joke to scare whoever walked by; it certainly creeped you out.

You know you can't stay there for long so you just walk by, not batting another glance at the statue. If you had looked, you would've noticed that the angel wasn't covering its eyes anymore; its hands were down and its head was up and it was looking right at you.

You walk to the elevator, the fastest way for you to reach your car. You press the button to call the elevator car and wait. As you stood there, tapping your foot impatiently, you notice a quiet scratching noise echoing through the garage, like stone being dragged across concrete. You glance behind you but there was no one in sight. You shrug it off when the elevator gets here. You step in, press the button with the floor your car is on, and you look through the elevator doors and watch the world outside disappear behind them. But, before the doors close, you notice something. Standing in front of the toll booth was a statue, the statue of an angel, watching you, pointing at you. You keep your eyes locked on the statue as the doors close.

You tell yourself that what you just saw was nothing as the elevator takes you up. You try to convince yourself that you just thought you saw a statue, that the statue in the toll booth got to you and you were seeing things. Either way, you wanted to just get to your car and leave. You wanted to just leave and shrug off what you just saw as an eerie memory.

The elevator dings as the door opens, revealing another empty level of the garage. Without the other cars, you can see yours on the far end. You look over the railing of that floor, wondering if there was anyone else still around. As you look down, you realize there is a statue on the floor below, leaning over the railing, looking up at you.

You jump back, trying to put together what you just saw. You didn't want to see it again but you could hear the sound of shifting stone coming from the level below. You lean back over but the statue is gone.

You started walking to your car. You just wanted to get out, to just put this day behind you and forget about it. But there it was, another statue stood in front of you, its hands at its sides. You carefully walk up to it, expecting it to be some jerk in a costume that was going to jump at you, make you scream, and put the whole video on youtube. You poke the statue to be sure. There was no doubt about it. It was just stone. You take a step back, closing your eyes and letting out a sigh of relief. It was just a rock, just a statue.

You open your eyes and freeze. The statue had moved, its arms now raised up as if it was about to grab you, its mouth wide to bear its fangs.

You stumble backwards, your eyes locked, afraid to look away. You didn't know how long you were staring at it but your eyes were beginning to burn from being open so long. You couldn't take it anymore. You blink.

You jump back as the statue moves even closer.

You weren't going to wait around any longer. You turned and ran. You didn't know how fast you were running and you didn't care. You just wanted to get away from those statues. You didn't look back over your shoulder, afraid that even once glance would slow you down enough for those things to catch up to you. You could feel your legs burning but you didn't care; you had to get to your car and get out of there.

You make it to your car and finally turn around. The garage was empty. There was no sign of any statues. You wondered if you were just seeing things; you prayed that you were. You look down and fumble to get your keys out. Then you notice it; behind the sound of the jingling of your keys was another noise, the scraping sound of stone being dragged across concrete. Your car beeps approvingly as you unlock it and you look up to open the door and freeze. That late at night, your window now acted like a mirror; you could see your own reflection in the window, your panicked face and your messy hair from running here and the statue standing right behind you.

You turn around and press yourself against your car when you see how close the statue is, its arms raised above its head, its eyes as wide as its gaping mouth, your face inches away from its face. You press yourself against your car as hard as you can, afraid to look away from the statue. But, you can't keep it up for long. Your eyes begin to burn. You widen them, trying to force them to stay open but you could feel your eyes tingling, demanding you close them for just one moment. You fight it. You keep your eyes open so long that it felt like they were going to dry out. But the feeling was overwhelming. You couldn't take it anymore. You couldn't fight it any longer.

You blink.


End file.
